From Newsgroup: alt.toys.transformers

Dave's Transformers Artifact Rant: Zuru 5 Surprise

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Artifacts/Zuru1

I'm going to break with my usual style here, because this is a blind package thing and I don't plan to get them all, but since they're likely to show at regular stores (as opposed to requiring a special online order like a lot of Blokees, another blindpack series, which I've been buying but don't
plan to review) I figured it'd be worth some sort of commentary

Price point: $5 each at Target, so probably about the same when they
show up elsewhere.

Leading off with my overall recommendation: A lot of the cost is in the packaging and side stuff, if you just want the figures these are a bit overpriced IMO. On the other hand, a lot of blind ball toys these days run $8-10, and it's not like there's a lot of five dollar Transformers toys anymore. Mildly recommended.

Background: Zuru has been putting out blind-ball toys for years now, initially just under the "5 Surprise" brand but they've expanded a bit.
Lately, other companies have gotten into it, with blind-balls taking up a
good chunk of an aisle at Walmart and Target. The older 5 Surprise balls
were split into slices like an orange, so once you'd finished opening up all the slices to retrieve the five pieces, you'd assemble the toy...the ball itself was basically trash at that point. I tried reassembling one, but it didn't hold very well. The method also limited what sort of stuff they could include, no one part could be too big.

Packaging: Fortunately, they seem to have ditched the slice version,
with the ball just being two hemispheres snapped together. Slightly more reusable, I suppose, although these do proclaim that they're made of recycled plastic (which is still almost entirely a PR gimmick...very little plastic is actually recycled, sadly). The diameter is 3.75" (9.5cm), and if you want to buy more than one you probably should get a bag or basket, since trying to carry multiple balls this size is going to result in a lot of dropping and cursing otherwise.
As with most other blind balls, the plastic sphere is wrapped in two plastic bands that are crossed so that you can't see any of the plastic underneath. (In at least one blind-ball set, by another company, the inner sphere's color is related to the toy inside, so it's good to completely cover it. This also lets them do things like have chase figures in gold balls or whatever.) The outer band covers all but the top and bottom little bit (circles about 2"/5cm in diameter on the poles) and the front half of it has evergreen versions of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee art around the Transformers More Than Meets The Eye logo. The upper right proclaims that there's "10 to collect!" and a bit at the bottom edge says that it contains 2 ounces (60g)
of "Quick Sand." I'm guessing it's like moon sand modeling compound but I'm kinda reluctant to open it up. At least it's not slime, which some 5
Surprise lines use. On the back are the big 5 Surprise logo and various legaleze, plus the perforated unzip line. My fingernails aren't strong
enough to pull that line down, so I slide a knife inside.
Under the outer band is a simple red inner one, which does have the text "This capsule is made with certified RECYCLED PLASTIC" that shows through the opening on the bottom of the outer band. It has a similar zipper strip.

What are the Five Surprises? In this case, there's three red paper packets with dark red Autobot and Decepticon symboles on them, plus the 5 Surprise and Transformers logos on them in white, plus a loose folded up checklist. The biggest bag has the main character (surprise 1) and their weapons (surprise 2). The medium bag has Quick Sand (surprise 3, the gift
that keeps giving if you have carpet), and the smallest packet has a trading card and puffy sticker of the included character (surprises 4 and 5).
The checklist has three robots, six vehicles, and a gold chase vehicle. These toys do not transform, but that's kinda to be expected at this price point. If they were ten bucks, I might expect something like an Alpha Class inside, or a kit-based toy that has McDonalds-level transformation. Anyway, they're all evergreen designs: robot Bumblebee, robot Megatron, robot Optimus Prime, vehicle Megatron, vehicle Bumblebee, vehicle Optimus Prime (which
comes with the rifle anyway), vehicle Soundwave, vehicle Wheeljack, vehicle Starscream, and gold chase vehicle Bumblebee. The weapons may be in plastic blisters if there's a risk of them warping. At least with Optimus, the
weapons are identical in both versions, so if you get both then the robot can dual-wield.
The trading cards are 3.7cm wide and 5.4cm tall with holofoil faction symbols in the background. The back side just has the logos and some more holofoil, no character info. I suppose that makes them usable as playing
cards of a sort, but you'd have to make up your own game. The puffy stickers are about the same overall size as the trading cards, and they're raised
relief shells with adhesive backing, a little over 3mm thick. All of the
cards show robot mode, both of my Primes had the same art. Interestingly, robot Optimus came with a vehicle Optimus sticker and vice versa, which might be the standard, since all the vehicles I got came with robot stickers.

In the six I found at Target, I got: vehicle Soundwave, vehicle
Megatron, vehicle Starscream (which comes with a grayscale instruction
sheet), Bumblebee vehicle (non-chase), vehicle Optimus Prime (protective
shell over the smokestacks), and robot Optimus Prime (nothing keeping the smokestacks from being smooshed). I opened robot Optimus last, and was starting to wonder if someone with a code-reader had grabbed all the robots.

All of the vehicles roll nicely except Starscream, who they didn't try giving wheels to. He gets a flight base instead. (My Starscream has warped tail fins, due to a lack of protective shell in the bag.) Tank Megatron's turret turns, and according to the checklist the robot has the same cannon
but I don't know if the left forearm has a socket to allow dual-wielding. Soundwave has some nice molded detail, and a non-moving but rubbery radar
dish next to where the cannon mounts. The vehicles are in the 3 to 3.5" (7-9cm) long range, with Starscream being the longest and Megatron's hull
being ths shortest (total length with cannon is longer, though).

I only got one robot, so I can't be sure all these observations generalize. Optimus is 3.25" (8.5cm) tall, a little taller than the Page Punchers version, but with mold details not quite as sharp. Also, this is
the evergreen design, which does differ from G1. Articulation is better,
with swivel shoulders, swivel (pegged in) wrists and ankles, and hips that might be universal joints but can't move much forwards and backwards due to
the armor skirt, so they just swing out to the sides. The neck doesn't turn, but that might be more paint lock than I'm willing to try overcoming. Paint
is okay, although none of the molded wheels are painted. The fists hold 3mm pegs and are flexible enough to manage 1/8" Lego pegs. They do the common thing of "light gray for silver" animation coloring on most of the toy, but metallic silver smokestacks.
The spare rifle from the vehicle version can be held by Page Punchers Prime, albeit at an angle because the wrists on that don't move.

I'd be inclined to say that under current pricing structures, these
could probably sell just as the toy in a non-blind pack for about $3 for the vehicles or $4 for the robots and it'd be fair. Do the extra bits really
bring it to $5 in value? Eh, kinda sorta. Especially if you actually like molding sand. However, some of the non-licensed 5 Surprise vehicles are overall better (like the monster trucks with working missile launchers I
picked up last year).


Dave Van Domelen, probably not getting more unless they're on clearance, too much chance of doubles and no real use for them.

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